Alma 21

Aaron Teaches in Jerusalem

When Ammon and his brothers split up near the land of the Lamanites, Aaron traveled to a land called Jerusalem. The Lamanites named it after the land where their fathers were born. It was next to the land of Mormon. The Lamanites, Amalekites, and people of Amulon had built a big city. They called it Jerusalem. The Lamanites were already stubborn. But the Amalekites and Amulonites were even more stubborn. They made the Lamanites become more stubborn too. They got stronger in doing bad things.

Aaron came to the city of Jerusalem. First he started teaching the Amalekites. He taught them in their churches. They had built churches following the teachings of Nehor. Many of the Amalekites and Amulonites followed the teachings of Nehor.

An Amalekite Argues with Aaron

Aaron went into one of their churches to teach the people. As he was talking to them, an Amalekite stood up. He started arguing with him. He said: 'What are you talking about? Have you seen an angel? Why don’t angels come to us? Aren’t we as good as your people?' 'You also say we will die if we don’t change. How do you know what we think and want? How do you know we need to change? How do you know we aren’t good people? Look, we have built churches. We meet together to worship God. We believe God will save everyone.'

Aaron said to him: 'Do you believe the Son of God will come to save people from their sins?' The man said to him: 'We don’t believe you know anything like that. We don’t believe these silly old stories. We don’t believe you know what will happen in the future. We don’t believe your fathers knew about the future either. And we don’t believe our fathers knew about it when they talked about what would happen.'

Aaron began to show them the scriptures. He taught them about Christ coming. He also taught them that dead people would come back to life. He said people could only be saved because of Christ’s death and suffering. Christ’s blood paid for their sins. As he started explaining these things to them, they got angry at him. They began to make fun of him. They would not listen to what he said.

Aaron and His Brothers Are Put in Prison

When he saw they would not listen, he left the church. He went to a village called Ani-Anti. There he found Muloki teaching the people God’s word. Ammah and his brothers were there too. They argued with many people about God’s word. They saw that the people’s hearts were getting stubborn. So they left and went to the land of Middoni. They taught God’s word to many people. But only a few believed what they taught. Aaron and some of his brothers were caught and thrown in prison. The rest of them ran away from the land of Middoni. They went to the areas around it.

The ones in prison had a hard time. Lamoni and Ammon helped get them out. They gave them food and clothes. They went out again to teach God’s word. This was the first time they were set free from prison. They had been through hard times.

They went wherever the Spirit led them. They taught God’s word in every Amalekite church. They also taught in every Lamanite meeting place where they were allowed to go. The Lord began to bless them. They helped many people learn the truth. They showed many people their sins. They showed them the wrong teachings their fathers had taught them.

Lamoni Teaches His People About Freedom

Ammon and Lamoni came back from the land of Middoni. They went to the land of Ishmael. That was the land they owned.

King Lamoni would not let Ammon be his servant anymore. He had churches built in the land of Ishmael. He made his people meet together.

He was happy because of them. He taught them many things. He told them they were his people. But he also told them they were free people. They were free from his father the king who had treated them badly. His father had given him the right to rule over the people in the land of Ishmael and all the land around it. He also told them they were free to worship the Lord their God. They could worship how they wanted. They could worship anywhere they were in the land that King Lamoni ruled.

Ammon taught the people of King Lamoni. He taught them all about doing what is right. He worked hard to teach them every day. They listened to his words. They wanted very much to obey God’s commands.